


this life

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Everyone Is Alive, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Family Feels, M/M, Parent Bucky Barnes, Parent Sam Wilson, Post-Endgame, Precious Riri Williams
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:01:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22016038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Sam always tells him that after everything they've gone through, after everything they've fought for and to protect- it's the least they deserve.A family- himself, his boyfriend and his boyfriend's niece who is actually officially his daughter.A home- the decent-sized brownstone house situated in the middle of Brooklyn, the house that looks more than nice on the outside but has so much character on the inside. The framed pictures, the house plants, the shoes lying around and Riri's clothes that somehow always end up on the kitchen counter.Or, Bucky and Sam find family
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Riri Williams, James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson, Sam Wilson & Riri Williams
Comments: 7
Kudos: 61





	this life

**Author's Note:**

> because i can't wait for falcon and the winter soldier and also because i love writing the soft domestic sides of characters that are known to be 'tough' 
> 
> riri williams is in this (but she doesn't have powers or anything) because i said so, i wrote her off as sam's niece but he adopted her because _i said so_
> 
> also i am a very big whore for brownstone houses/apartments, so imagine them living [here](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/vr-splice-j/06/56/9a/7e.jpg)

The loud knock on their door has Bucky up and aware in seconds, perks (maybe downs) of being a shallow sleeper. A brief glance outside through the slits of window that haven't been covered by the curtains, he can tell it's barley time to be up yet. The time reading 3:09 am on the alarm clock confirms his hypothesis. Could it be robbers? Are robbers even polite enough to knock? What a stupid thought.

Bucky carefully unravels his arms from where they were wrapped around Sam's waist under the covers, turns his lamp on and stands up to go to the door. His eyes are barely open but he makes out the figure of a sleepy teenager presented before him. At least it isn't robbers. Scratch that, _thank god_ it isn't robbers.

"Hey," Riri yawns, leaning against the frame. "can I sleep here tonight with you guys?"

Bucky reciprocates her yawn and softly puts a hand on her back to pull her in. "Uh, sure, sure, of course. The more the merrier," he drawls before softly closing the door.

The girl flashes a lethargic smile and spares no time before flopping down onto the middle of his and Sam's king. He retreats to his own side and briefly catches a glance of Sam sleepily kissing Riri's forehead before dozing back off. He softens at the sight.

"You okay?" he asks the girl as he gestures for her to come closer.

She re-positions herself and snuggles under his inviting arm- the metal one that he's been wearing to sleep more and more often for some reason. "Yeah, just felt kinda lonely."

"Mhm, know how that feels. You don't have to knock next time, alright?" he tells her, eyes closed. He's obviously no stranger to nightmares and sudden flashbacks. Not just that, the feeling of empty loneliness to couple it all. "Just come in and make sure to kick Sam in the gut while you're at it,"

" _I heard that_ ," the other man groggily grumbles.

Riri laughs. "M'kay. You guys are weird."

"So I've been told," Bucky leans over to turn the lamp off, surrounding the room in a thick blanket of darkness. "goodnight, wake me up if you need anything."

"Goodnight,"

He sleeps.

The next time he wakes up, the curtains are open and there's fluorescent light filtering through the windows. Both Sam and Riri are gone and the smell of blueberry waffles is invading his nostrils. He puts on a shirt before combing his fingers through short hair. Sam has said he looked incredibly hot with his short hair (but it's Sam, and he's sort of biased). Surely, he finds Riri abnormally spayed on the sofa watching yet another episode of Parks and Recreation and Sam flipping bacon in the connected kitchen. Both sights bring a fond swell to his throat.

"Good morning asshole," Bucky announces and kisses Sam's cheek.

"Morning dickhead," the other man smiles back. "I made your coffee for you but Riri took your favorite mug."

He grabs said coffee and softly blows over it. "Mhm, let her. I have other mugs," he pinches Sam's ass- earning a yelp from him- before going to set the table for breakfast.

It's the usual of waffles and bacon, topped with scrambled eggs and organically squeezed orange juice. Bucky enjoys every aspect of it too; feeling Sam rub his cold feet against his under the table, cutting Riri's bacon for her even though she knows very well how to use a knife, participating in lively early-morning banter. It's the life he'd never thought he had.

Sam always tells him that after everything they've gone through, after everything they've fought for and to protect- it's the least they deserve. 

A family- himself, his boyfriend and his boyfriend's niece who is actually officially his daughter. And sort of his as well.

A home- the decent-sized brownstone house situated in the middle of Brooklyn, the house that looks more than nice on the outside but has so much character on the inside. The framed pictures, the house plants, the pairs of shoes lying around and Riri's hair products that somehow always end up on the kitchen counter. Along with the dog Sam brought home three months ago and the closet of clothes they can' differentiate anymore.

It's what they deserve, this domesticity. A break from saving the world. Steve's (he and Tony decided to retire, understandable but the world was devastated) shield currently hangs in the back of their closet, among other things. But Sam doesn't need it, not right now to the least. They've got each other; family and home. Bucky isn't really sure he needs anything thing else.

"I'm going to run errands later, anyone need anything?" he asks as he sets some plates into the dishwasher.

"Shaving cream and peanut butter." Sam replies. "Riri do you need anything?"

"No,"

"Are you _sure_?"

" _Yes_ , I'm _sure_."

Bucky laughs and goes to change before kissing Sam and leaving. It's a simple Saturday errand-running routine- stop at the farmer's market for fresh produce, pick up packages, letters and deliveries from the post office and buy the week's provision and extras at the grocery store. 

Midway through reading the back labels of a cereal box, his phone starts ringing in his pocket. "Hello,"

"Hi," Sam's voice exasperatedly sighs but Bucky can hear the smile in his voice.

"Hi. Let me take an educated guess...Riri?"

"Ding, ding, ding." the other man sounds. "Sorry for putting the burden on you again,"

Bucky waves a dismissive hand, as if Sam can see him. "Sweetheart, it's fine. I don't mind, you know. She's just as much my daughter as she is yours."

"You sappy fuck. Thanks, you know which ones to get right?"

He hums, throwing the cereal box into the cart after minutes of observation. "Yup. Regular. I'll grab a Mars Bar too."

"Make that two Mars Bars, you're the best. Love you,"

"Love you too,"

Riri grumbles out a silent 'thank you' when Bucky hands her the bag of supplies after he gets home. She slams the door behind her and Sam snorts as he helps Bucky unload the groceries. 

"Talk about being a teenager. Hormones, mood swings and all- count me _out_."

Bucky smiles into a sigh. "Don't make fun of her you lug, and go comfort her."

"Fine. But if she throws a blunt object at me, you're doing the comforting next time."

"Deal,"

He puts a kettle of water on the stove, while waiting for it to boil he crashes onto the sofa and continues to watch the movie he and Sam had been watching last night. A few moments later and Riri comes paddling into the room with a barking Diesel being carried in her arms. Sam follows closely behind with his hands on her shoulders.

The teen sits all the way on the other end of the couch, silent and eyes fixed on the TV screen.

"She's embarrassed," Sam whispers to him when he sits next to him. "but she says thanks for the candy bar."

The kettle starts to whistle and Bucky gets up to tend to it before somehow carrying three mugs of steaming tea to the coffee table. 

Eventually, Riri crams herself between them without a word. 

The movie isn't that bad.

Sam makes chicken salad and garlic bread for lunch and the kid is back to her usual motor-mouth and energetic self. They and gather eat on the floor, in a neat circle next to the kitchen window. Surrounded and sitting on various pillows they've scavenged from around the house, the whole thing feels comfortably surreal.

"Don't feed Diesel the chicken Riri," Sam reprimands for the fourth time.

"But dogs can eat chicken, I don't see why not."

"Dogs can only eat unseasoned chicken, my darling." Bucky nonchalantly says through a mouth full of bread.

Riri chokes on her words and Sam breaks out in laughter.

The kid stands up, plate and everything. "You guys are _ridiculous_. I'm gonna go work on some circuits in my room."

Once she storms away, Sam smirks and nudges his side. "She still has a little bit of a crush on you, you know."

"And you're being an _asshole_ about it," Bucky tries to coolly reply but even he can't hold his snort back. He clearly remembers, only months ago when Sam had introduced Riri to him and the girl was speechless as she shook his hand. When he moved in with them, she had a habit of trying to avoid him which Bucky thought was strange since Sam told him that how smart and lively she was. "and you're just jealous because she likes my hugs better."

"She likes your hugs better because she _likes_ you."

Diesel barks.

They load the dishwasher again before parting ways; Sam, to catch up on his book and take a nap, Bucky, to go walk the small golden retriever they call their dog. He puts Diesel onto his leash and knocks on Riri's door.

"Come in,"

Bucky opens the door, smiling at the sight of the kid working a screwdriver into a piece of metal at her desk. "Hey R, I was wondering if you wanted to come walk Diesel with me?"

"Oh yeah sure!" she stands up and toes into her worn out Converse shoes before pulling on a sweatshirt over her t-shirt.

Bucky opens the door for them and squints when his face is hit with early afternoon sunlight. They walk down their street, arms looped. He loves Brooklyn in the summer.

"I don't like you. Anymore. If that's what you're wondering. I realized it was kinda weird because you're technically like, my parent." Riri prompts. "Or like, my parent's boyfriend. Same difference."

He grins. "Oh, I knew. I just never said anything about it, unlike Sam. Don't worry, I had a crush on my eight grade English teacher."

"I've never been this embarrassed before, ugh, I hate emotions." she wheezes and clutches her stomach.

"You okay?"

She nods. "Yeah. Just cramps or whatever."

"Sam and I have a friend that used to say that. Her name is Natasha, she's easily one of the strongest women I'll ever know," his eyes sting with tears and a large lump knots in his throat. He was devastated when Clint told her how they almost lost her. On Vormir, or something like that.

Riri's eyes light up. "Wait, you mean Black Widow right?"

He hums in confirmation. "Yeah, after the whole accord debacle we were on the run together with Steve. She wasn't feeling well one week and we bought her ice cream, boy was she mad."

"Too much sugar and dairy just make the cramps worse, did you not know that?"

"No but now I do. Learned it the hard way."

"Same,"

Diesel trots happily ahead, pulling on his leash. A few passerby stop and gape at them- at the Winter Soldier and his kid, not Bucky Barnes and his kid. He hates that. That people don't want to see past the superhero exterior. He and Sam have been working so hard to leave their old jobs in the past and people just don't seem to recognize the effort. Even with the pedestrian clothes, the teenager that they've been raising and the cozy home they have as opposed to a tower in the middle of the city.

Riri leans a little against him as they walk. "Sam says we're going upstate on Monday,"

"Tony invited us for lunch. You know who Tony is right?" he asks. He remembers hearing Sam recount the tale of the battle that brought back millions minutes before she was supposed to go to bed a few months ago. Bucky still wonders if she had been one of...the dusted. She's never brought up the subject. Or, she's yet to.

" _Tony Stark_? That's... _so cool_. I heard he has a prosthetic arm now, kinda like yours."

Bucky laughs. "Yeah, kinda like mine. He has a son your age, Peter. He's smart and everything, just like you. They made my new arm for me."

The last time he called Steve- two days ago- he said that he, Tony and Peter were doing good up at the lake house. That everything was fine. That they were fine.

"Please don't try to set me up with your best friend's son." Riri gags and Bucky laughs so hard he almost trips over a crack in the sidewalk.

Sam is watering the kitchen plants when they get back home. All three spend the rest of the afternoon in front TV, Riri dozes off on Sam's chest halfway through the third episode of The Politician. It's endearing to see the two people he loves the most together like this right before him. He smiles, Sam calls him sappy and old fashioned again.

Bucky just kisses him and throws an arm over his shoulder.

When 5:00 pm nears, Riri announces that she's off to take a bath and no one is to open the bathroom (she frequently uses their bathroom, claiming that it has better lighting) door. 

He and Sam get dinner started, intentionally bumping into each other as they chop vegetables and boil spaghetti. As things fold out, Sam ends up sitting on the counter with Bucky situated between his parted legs.

"Hey soldier," Sam teases, kissing the corner of his mouth. "long day?"

Bucky grins and kisses him back; first on the nose, then the two cheeks and finally his lips. "Very. How kind of you to ask."

"I know something that might make you feel better," the other promises and Bucky's eyes go dark at the suggestion.

"Oh you do?" he digs his fingers into Sam's neck, who almost moans at the touch. "You don't suppose you could tell me now, could you?"

Sam dirtily grins. "Well. Not sure. But I can tell you that it involves me, you and the box of condoms you bought today,"

The promise, however, isn't fulfilled at the instant. The cause being Diesel and Riri running out from the hallway and crashing onto the kitchen floor, right next to Bucky's bare feet. While the dog licks at her face, she looks up at them from the tiled floor and glowers.

"You guys are _disgusting_ , I could hear you from the hallway,"

Sam sticks his tongue out, tucking his boyfriend closer. "Two things; did you bathe _with_ the dog?"

Diesel, fur slightly wet and dripping, barks joyously and starts to run around the room. 

Riri scowls. "His name isn't _the dog_ , it's _Diesel_. And yes, I bathed with him. Have a problem with that?"

"Not that I remember. And are those my sweatpants?" 

They're about four, maybe five sizes too big on her. She has them rolled around her waist but Bucky knows by experience- they're _extremely_ comfortable.

"Perhaps they are. Do you have a problem with that as well?"

"Not that I recall."

She hums and peels herself off the floor to open the fridge, most likely scavenging for snacks even though there's a 'no sugar before dinner' rule. They let some rules slip sometimes. And it is- sort of- their fault for buying sweets and candies.

While Sam and the kid help themselves to handfuls of Skittles, Bucky fondly rolls his eyes and goes to set the table on the little balcony outside. There's a nice view of the street below them; cars buzzing by and midsummer fireflies blinking in the air as the setting sun casts off a warm salmon and golden glow. Riri comes out with the big pot of Skinny Alfredo, slamming it onto to the table much to Sam and Bucky's discontentment.

She also groans and rolls her eyes when Bucky starts to fork-feed the other man his spaghetti.

"Get a boyfriend and maybe we can talk," Sam teases.

Riri scrunches her nose, then furrows her eyebrows before shrugging. "Or a girlfriend?" she squeaks.

"Oh. _Oh_." Bucky looks at Sam, then at Riri, then back at Sam after he smiles. "Well then get a girlfriend and then we can talk," 

They eat with their usual banter going around the table, livelier than it usually is when they do the dishes later as a trio. They put on another movie (it seems like the most logical thing to do) and another before Riri is asleep on the recliner. Sam is tasked with carrying her to bed, hiding his pride with complaint; "She's fifteen, I shouldn't even have to be doing this anymore!" but Bucky has been around him long enough to tell when he's been genuine or not.

"Another day," Sam sighs when he flops into bed next to him. "gone beautifully."

Bucky puts his book down, all his attention zeroed on his boyfriend. "And you call me the sappy one?"

"When I feel like it."

He loves this; the mundane event that is normalcy. Bucky a few years ago would have never believed it if someone had told him that one day he'd have a home and a family. But in the highest form of honesty, they aren't completely normal. He has a metal arm and a stack of still-present trauma crammed in some memory files, Sam is due to be the new Captain America (when the world really needs him. For now, they can wait. It isn't even public yet) and the effects of the decimation are still hung up in the sky. 

So, not quite normal. But isn't that okay? Are people ever fully normal? One's vices, their flaws and their mistakes- it brings out the better in people sometimes. So in truth, he may no be fully okay. He never will be, thinking about it. But if anything, all those wars and battles are what lead up to be today's world.

"I can hear you thinking again," Sam distantly says with a sad smile on his face. "care to share?"

Bucky grins and pulls him closer, both under the covers. "Call me a sap, because I know you're going to- but I'm just happy."

Sam kisses him, softly on the lips. "You schmoopy sappy motherfucker. I'm happy too."

And of course, the door creaks open a few hours later and Riri snuggles between the two of them.

Diesel lightly snores from the foot of the bed.

Bucky...Bucky just smiles.

**Author's Note:**

> i wanted to write like 10k but i'm jet lagged as living hell


End file.
